{"id":1899,"date":"2009-09-04T16:38:28","date_gmt":"2009-09-04T20:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/?p=1899"},"modified":"2009-09-04T16:38:28","modified_gmt":"2009-09-04T20:38:28","slug":"not-just-another-boring-hotel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/not-just-another-boring-hotel\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Just Another Boring Hotel"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The biggest surprise of my life is how many beds I\u2019ve slept in. It just didn\u2019t enter my mind that satisfying my wanderlust would mean staying in hundreds of hotel rooms. While I\u2019m hardly an expert on hotels, I do know that most of them are so similar that I don\u2019t remember much about them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

That all changed when I had a hotel experience that was so extraordinary, that I couldn’t wait to return. I was doing a seminar series in Sacramento and learned that the hotel I\u2019d stayed at in the past was under new ownership and had a new name, Larkspur Landing<\/a>. I assumed the name change was the only difference. I couldn\u2019t have been more wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though major construction was taking place, there were\u00a0 little signs of change all around. A table in the entryway had perpetual coffee, tea and other hot drinks plus a heaping bowl of fresh fruit. Hot-from-the-oven cookies were added every evening. In the rooms, which all had a small kitchen, I found Starbucks coffee, bottled water and a packet of microwave popcorn\u2014all without the exorbitant charges attached that you find in most hotels.\u00a0 What really captivated me, however, was the Larkspur Library where you could borrow books, DVDs, CDs, and (my favorite) board games.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

There were plenty of other amenities, too, including\u00a0 an exercise room, a laundry, vending machines with foods that were not junky, and free wireless service.\u00a0Since they were still remodeling, they hadn\u2019t gotten to\u00a0 the fabulous mattresses and pillows that are part of the Larkspur furnishings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

On a return visit, after the remodeling crew was long gone, I was charmed by their lobby which looked nothing like those in other hotels. Instead, the space adjacent to the front desk looked like a living room in a lovely\u00a0 Arts and Crafts home. The centerpiece was a fireplace with bookshelves on either side. Seating was arranged for conversation\u2014or daydreaming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

This was all accomplished without charging any more than an ordinary hotel. I loved being there and noticed the staff and the guests were all smiling alot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been musing about how this hotel came to be so memorable and I\u2019ve come up with a theory. Instead of simply copying how other hotels do things, I suspect that someone decided to create a hotel where they\u2019d actually enjoy staying at themselves. As a result this attention to small details makes something ordinary into an extraordinary experience for Larkspur\u2019s guests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Pleasure of Their Company<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ever since I connected with them on Twitter, I\u2019ve been a big fan of Flashlight Worthy Books<\/a>, a Web site that makes recommendations on all sorts of books both old and new. Since they also invite experts to create reading lists, I submitted a list of books with the title The Art of Being an Entrepreneur.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

It finally posted today and here\u2019s how FLW<\/a> announced it on Twitter: Stop laboring for someone else this Labor Day Weekend. Use these books to become an entrepreneur<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Check it out. You\u2019re bound to find a title or two worth adding to your personal library.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The biggest surprise of my life is how many beds I\u2019ve slept in. It just didn\u2019t enter my mind that satisfying my wanderlust would mean staying in hundreds of hotel rooms. While I\u2019m hardly an expert on hotels, I do know that most of them are so similar that I don\u2019t remember much about them.\u00a0…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[422],"tags":[424,426,425],"class_list":["post-1899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-pleasure-of-their-company","tag-flashlight-worthy-books","tag-hospitality","tag-larkspur-landing","jsn-master"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1899"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1911,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1899\/revisions\/1911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}